The random thoughts of Islander...

• 23Nov 08

  45 years of Doctor Who... I'll concentrate on the last five...

  So, this Sunday, 23rd November 2008, marks the 45th anniversary of Doctor Who. Hooray! On this day, back in 1963, William Hartnell first stepped out of the TARDIS, and I bet he didn't come close to imagining the sheer scale of the British institution that he was starting.
  
  Unfortunately for me, I didn't have the opportunity to immerse myself in the Whoniverse for the next 25-odd years ( ), and even then I somehow never got around to watching until I was in my late teens. Of course I knew all about the Daleks, for one through having watched that film – the name evades me – with the Robomen, a mine shaft and a large bomb set to detonate in so many rels, that ITV seemed only too keen to repeat a few times each year. It was good, but not amazing, and in all honesty it somewhat put me off hunting down the old episodes.
  
  However, in 2003 the BBC announced that they planned to create a new series, and, even having let 'Classic Who' slide past me, I was genuinely excited! The 26th March 2005 came, and there we were, plunged right into the episode Rose (I still remember Graham Norton's less-than-dulcet tones intruding for the first few moments… grr…), and you know what? It was fantastic!
  
  Having the honour of being editor for 'Nu Who', as it's sometimes affectionately known, I'm going to zoom through the highs and lows of this wonderful programme, in only the shallow, shallow detail that I have time for.
  
  The Eccleston-Piper Era
  I'm a strong believer that the Ninth Doctor is seriously underrated. Yes, David Tennant is (was ) truly amazing, but credit where credit's due, it was Christopher Eccleston that resuscitated Doctor Who, and made 'Nu Who' the success it is today. He was a dark and fairly mysterious Doctor, but I think that was a good thing.
  
  Re-watching the series now (if you haven't watched any of series one since 2005, seriously, get a copy and re-watch ASAP), it's amazing to see just how good it was. Take The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances, for example. Such an incredibly clever plot, centring around Captain Jack, a Chula 'war ship', nanogenes, a truly loveable young lady called Nancy and her unfortunate 'brother' Jamie. This two-parter was a masterpiece, from our future chief Who writer Steven Moffat (oh yes, the future looks bright). We finished this series with Bad Wolf and The Parting of the Ways - a strong pair of episodes, that brought the series to a good close.
  
  The Tennant-Piper Era
  The Christmas Invasion. Now that was an interesting episode. Not the Sycorax side of the plot, which for me wasn't actually all that interesting, but Rose's reaction to the Tenth Doctor. Once she had got to grips with the new face, and we had waited another four or so months, we were introduced to New Earth, our first alien, (or not), planet. Using comedy, that fairly quickly shook off the old feel to the series, but then change is good.
  
  The highlights of series two for me were definitely The Impossible Planet and The Satan Pit, which thinking about it was pretty much a return to the darker form of writing. Toby's transformation into The Beast was just terrifying, but again, the plot here was excellent. Skipping hastily past Love & Monsters, the series ended with what, in my eyes, is the best finale yet: Army of Ghosts and Doomsday. No normal person watched those final scenes without tears in their eyes.
  
  The Tennant-Agyeman Era
  A new series, a new companion. Martha was good. Not as good as either Rose or Donna, but definitely good. Yes, there were a couple of flops in this series: The Lazarus Experiment, 42, Last of the Time Lords… alright, this wasn't the best series to date. Still, we had wonders such as Blink (again, by good old Moffat), and who can forget Utopia? Uninteresting plot as a whole, but the main sub-plot, i.e. that of Dr. Yana, was fascinating.
  
  The Tennant-Tate Era
  Heh, Tennant-Tate, scarily similar to Doctor-Donna… After the slight dip in greatness that was series three, series four was right back on the mark. Pre-series, the amount of time I had to spend keeping an eye on anti-Tate messages in the forum was immense, and yet by the end, Donna was considered by many as the best companion yet, even surpassing Rose. It seems fairly clear that the most common reason for this is her lack of besotted-ness for the Doctor: a good call. Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead were my favourites here (oh look, another Moffat pair…), but I'm not in the majority with that one.
  
  Change
  It's funny how people dislike change. Think about it: David Tennant is considered by so very many to be the best Doctor this show has ever had, but what happened just after Parting of the Ways, when we learnt of Christopher Eccleston's departure? There was an outcry, people were saying that he was their Doctor, and were genuinely upset about him leaving (I know I was). However, all was forgotten when Tennant began. Same was true with Rose to Martha, Martha to Donna, and who knows, perhaps the Tenth Doctor to the Eleventh. It is definitely sad that David Tennant is leaving, but not before he's given us three series worth of great fun.
  
  Old and New
  Finally, I leave you with these last few thoughts (not long to go, assuming you haven't already whizzed past me onto one of the other contributor's blog ). The revived Doctor Who is special for many, many reasons, but I think one of the most profound is the sheer demographic section that it appeals to. It appeals to children, teenagers and adults, it appeals to old fans and new viewers, it appeals to sci-fi junkies and those less interested in this finer genre in life.
  
  How do I know this? After each and every episode, I come back to my computer and find my moderation queue full to bursting with notes, quotes, trivia points and allusions from a tonne of different contributors. Most I don't know, but of those I do, I know that are adults who have been interested in Who since before the dinosaurs took over this world (well, seems that long ago anyway ), there are teens who have seen more Who than me, and there are also many users who have seen very little, but still enjoy it to the extent that they feel compelled to contribute here on TV.com. In many ways, it's magical.
  
  Doctor Who has survived very well for 45 years – here's to the next 45 years
  
  Islander
  
  NB: Be sure to check out TheOldBill's tribute as well!
  • Posted Nov 23, 2008 5:56 am PT
  • Category: TV
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• 28Dec 07

  Who do You Want to Be?

  Well. So much for regular blogs .
  
  I haven't been hugely, hugely active on TV.com as of late. Before December 14th that was due to work, and loads and loads of it, but after that it's down simply to my being somewhat lazy . 'Tis nice to have a complete break from academic work, and exams and suchlike.
  
  You may have noticed a change in the blog banner. Nari, Rose and the Doctor have been replaced by Noah, Max (x2), Indy (x2) and Saskia. That'd be because I have just become editor for another of my beloved Australian kidult shows, 'Noah & Saskia'! 'Tis my first new editorship in a while. Having received the DVD in the post this morning (having bought it from someone in Australia via eBay - under £7 for the DVD *and* postage from Aus to the UK - bargin!), I decided that I would have a stab at the guide and, pending a purge of TV.com's cache, I'm now editor .
  
  The thing I like particularly about 'Noah & Saskia' is how it was produced. For those that don't know, 'Noah & Saskia' follows a pair of people (Noah, from London, and Saskia, from Australia) who meet over the internet using alter-egos (Max Hammer and Indy, respectivley). The show explores how they interact, and how they learn about the other. The cleaver bit is this: clearly the show has two groups of people: those surrounding Saskia and Max Hammer in Australia, and those surrounding Noah and Indy in the UK. These two sets were filmed completely separately from one another: the ACTF cast, filmed and edited those scenes in Australia, and CBBC cast, filmed and edited those in the UK. The two sets of cast never met, even though they interact on-screen. All collaboration was done via the internet, including sending video from one party to the other. In this way, one (excellent) show was produced by two groups on opposite sides of the world. Genius!
  
  Anyway, enough about that. I hope everyone that reads this had an enjoyable Christmas, and have a very Happy New Year!
  
  Islander
  • Posted Dec 28, 2007 10:09 am PT
  • Category: TV
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• 3Sep 07

  No Internet for Now...

  Hello,
  
  Just thought I'd let people know that, for the moment, I'm without the internet. This is 'cause I've just moved into a new term-time house for Uni, and despite my trying to encourage my fellow housemates to get it set up before we arrived, they declined, so we now have to wait. All things going well, we should be up and running by the end of this week / beginning of next, but you never know...
  
  In the meantime, I'm a) piking internet off the University (where I am right now, with a great big sign in front of me saying "These facilities are to be used for academic purposes only"), and b) piking internet off a friend of mine, whoes group were intelligent, and have their all set up already. I knew I should have lived with them...
  
  Anywho, that is why my activity has been low recently, and it will continue to be low-ish for a short while. For this reason, it may take me a little longer than usual to get to any subs you send me, and for that, I appologise.
  
  Hope everyone's well
  
  Islander
  
  Edit: To cap it all off, my laptop seems to have just died spectacularly, so even when we do get internet at my house, there's no guarentee that it'll work...
  • Posted Sep 3, 2007 9:29 am PT
  • Category: Other
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